My husband and I gave it a try on two consecutive days to allow us a chance to try some of the different things they offer.

I'm not used to my food being prepared in front of me when I go out for dinner at night with my husband. Yes, I've been to Chipotle and Subway countless times, but it's usually for lunch and I carry it back to the office to consume, so there's a distance between prep and consume. If you're not someone who's into seeing hands dip into bins to fetch ingredients, you'll have a little trouble with Chop It. However, there's nothing unsanitary here. Employees wear gloves, and hair is tied back or under a hat.

When you order, the counter staff grabs the appropriate bowl for your choices. Salads fixins go into a plastic bowl, while wrap or chopadillas go into a small metal mixing bowl.

Workers gather all the ingredients from the stand in front of the customer, then transfer it to one of the marble boards behind. They then put the fixins into a bigger metal bowl and mix them with any dressings. The contents are then transferred to a final serving bowl or to a tortilla. Chopadillas or wraps that are heated then go onto a cooking surface that's similar to a panini press.

On our first visit Saturday night, we went the salad route and split a chopadilla, just because we wanted to see what would turn up.

I picked the Mediterranean salad ($8.49), while my husband went for the Spinach Walnut Raspberry ($8.49). We hadn't yet decided on a second-day visit at that point, so we decided to split a chopadilla, which was described as just like a quesadilla that you'll see on appetizer menus or in Mexican-themed restaurants. Any of the salads on Chop It's menu can be made into a chopadilla.

Because neither of us chose anything that would show off Chop It's ability to season its food, we decided on the Cajun Shrimp chopadilla ($8.49), which featured grilled cajun shrimp.

The most important thing I can possibly point out about Chop It is the ability to control what you're eating and how it's prepared. Discuss with the staff member what you want and how you want it. Judging by our visits, it's easy to get more calories than you intend because there doesn't seem to be any real method to the addition of dressings to menu items.

The food is fresh and has the snap you expect from the items where you should have it. You're free to swap out lettuce types if you'd prefer items be prepared another way. I left onions off everything I ordered and next time will ask for the Mediterranean to be served with its hummus on top, rather than mixed in with the other ingredients. I could still taste it on my salad, but the blending of it with the balsamic vinaigrette left me with just a thick salad dressing. But the salad was wonderful, with cheese, avocado, sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers and cucumbers.

He too thoroughly enjoyed his salad, which featured goat cheese, granny smith apples, dried cranberries and candied walnuts in a large bed of spinach. It had a walnut raspberry vinaigrette.

We decided the cajun shrimp chopadilla would be far better as a salad. But, don't hesitate to give this a try if you like spices and some heat with your food. The shrimp were grilled on the panini-type grill and added to a whole-wheat tortilla with a good amount of pepper jack cheese, tomatoes, red peppers and what's described as "Red Hot Ranch Dressing." Together, the shrimp, cheese and dressing made a delightful bit of flavor and fire that weren't overpowering.

But the ingredients combined to make the tortilla far too wet to pick up, so we ate it with a couple forks and a knife. Tasty, but unconventional.

The next day for lunch, we went back to the mall so I could try a wrap.

I dug into the Chicken Santa Fe, but substituted romaine lettuce for the iceberg on the menu. The chicken was dusted with the same cajun spices as the shrimp the night before, and combined beautifully with black beans, corn, tomatoes, cheddar cheese and Chipotle Salsa Ranch Dressing. It was spectacular. As I sat eating it, I grew disappointed as pieces fell to the plate below.

This is the item that made me notice the need for communication between customer and staff. The young woman preparing his salad applied the dressing three times. When she served it up, it was almost like a chicken or ham salad you see at the grocery store, a blend held together by the dressing. Since we're not newbies anymore, we'll have more communication on subsequent visits.

Chop It features other items on its Grab-n Go menu.

The one that caught our eye was the hummus and pita ($1.99). We noticed it the first night we stopped over, when a customer ordered it and his pita was heated and cut by his server. When we ordered ours, the pita were fetched out of a plastic bin on the counter. Not sure what the difference was, but I must say I'd have preferred the heated method.

The hummus had a really good consistency, but it had too much garlic for my tastes. It took me a minute to figure it out, because the garlic and lemon flavors were so prominent. But the aftertaste was all garlic. I'll order it again, to see if we possibly got a loaded batch. You never know.

The lesson of Chop It clearly is to relish the freshness in a sea of prepared-in-advance, salt-laden dishes at other food court stands. But, while doing so, work with your server to ensure you get exactly what you want.

Give it a try. You just might be surprised by what you uncover in your local food court.